Among her compositions was the tune Crimond, which is best known as one setting for the words of Psalm 23: "The Lord's my shepherd". It is believed that Irvine wrote the tune while still in her teens, as an exercise for an organ class she was attending.[1]

The tune first appeared in The Northern Psalter (c.1872) where it was credited to one David Grant. It was subsequently revealed, however, that Grant had only arranged and not composed the tune, and the 1929 Scottish Psalter credits Irvine. The controversy is discussed in Ronald Johnson's article: "How far is it to Crimond?"[2] and Jack Webster's column in the Glasgow Herald.[3]